Political parties need to collaborate

According to www.voanews.com, this government shutdown is the 12th shutdown since 1981. Before the 1980s, if Congress could not pass a budget, federal employees continued operating as usual, even while waiting for a spending bill to pass. JAY VALLE | Scroll Illustration

In April of this year an explosion at the West Fertilizer Company storage and distribution facility injured hundreds and fatally injured 15.

In situations where large amounts of people are injured and seeking compensation we are lucky to have impartial gros to investigate like the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB).

According to the CSB the investigation is currently ongoing. By “ongoing” they really mean “not ongoing,” because as of Oct. 1 the CSB and many other agencies have been shut down.

“CSB’s priorities during a shutdown are to limit the creation of obligations to the minimum necessary to protect life and property,” according to www.whitehouse.gov.

This means that no investigations will be opened or continued until the shutdown is ended.

For the hundreds affected by the West Fertilizer explosion, including both workers and those injured, the government shutdown prevents progress in the investigation and closure from this event.

Things are getting out of control with Republicans blaming Democrats for not considering changes to the Affordable Care Act and Democrats blaming Republicans for not allowing a law to continue its course.

“Republicans in the House of Representatives refused to fund the government unless we defunded or dismantled the Affordable Care Act,” said President Obama in a press release.

Republicans claim that they were forced into this position because Democrats will not negotiate about ObamaCare.

“The entire government is shut down right now because Washington Democrats refuse to even talk about fairness for all Americans under ObamaCare,” Mike Steel, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, said in a statement.

It is pointless to play the blame game when both sides will not budge. They are making their agendas a higher priority than hundreds of thousands of jobs held by the citizens of this country.

When two children are fighting to get their respective ways the first thing their mother will do is sit them down and help them understand how to share.

Congress needs to follow suit. They need to collaborate.

The last time the government shut down was in 1995 when Bill Clinton was the President of the United States.

A similar event unfolded, with Democrats refusing to make budget cuts that the Republicans approved of and Republicans likewise refusing to raise the debt ceiling.

In order to prevent the shutdown from continuing, Congress came to a temporary agreement, but the lack of agreement that continued caused the agreement to only last a moment.

Something very similar could occur if both sides do not come to an agreement.

This could negatively affect the already struggling economy because of the halt in government work.

Instead of worrying so much about whose agenda is correct, Congress should focus on solving the problems together.

Members of Congress are adults, not children, so they do not need a mother to make them behave.

Or maybe they do?

This is the “United” States of America, so the government should start acting like it.

If they don’t, agencies like Millennium Challenge Corporation (fights against global poverty), WIC (nutritional help for women, infants and children), and the Chemical Safety Board will be unable to help those in need.

It is time for the government to do its job so that hundreds of thousands of citizens can do theirs.